Proposal: Mike Richards

Live in the Now

Registered User
Dec 17, 2005
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LA
It's easy to dismiss something as irrelevant when you're wrong, which you are. We don't win the Cup without him, we don't have our first line capable of racking up goals without him on the second line. The alternative before him was no secondary scoring at all, which we saw ourselves before he got here. All that stuff is true.

I'm glad Richards took the 5 tonight. He didn't play great, but he did his job and that's better than the last few games. Taking everything into consideration, including his poor conditioning, I'm happy with that.

Right now we seem like a really ungrateful fanbase with all the complaining that's gone on this week, but we still won the game tonight and got a point out of the one before it, and this guy did his job. Yet everyone has been talking about players we shouldn't have kept, yada yada, all week, just FOUR games after we won a Cup. What happened to "I would trade it all for a Cup?"

I get that he wasn't great last regular season but I can't understand why everyone's getting on his back right now. I don't think very many people expected a season in the first place, the players are included in that boat, if he's out of shape so be it.
 

KingKopitar11*

Guest
It's easy to dismiss something as irrelevant when you're wrong, which you are. We don't win the Cup without him, we don't have our first line capable of racking up goals without him on the second line. The alternative before him was no secondary scoring at all, which we saw ourselves before he got here. All that stuff is true.

I'm glad Richards took the 5 tonight. He didn't play great, but he did his job and that's better than the last few games. Taking everything into consideration, including his poor conditioning, I'm happy with that.

Right now we seem like a really ungrateful fanbase with all the complaining that's gone on this week, but we still won the game tonight and got a point out of the one before it, and this guy did his job. Yet everyone has been talking about players we shouldn't have kept, yada yada, all week, just FOUR games after we won a Cup. What happened to "I would trade it all for a Cup?"

I get that he wasn't great last regular season but I can't understand why everyone's getting on his back right now. I don't think very many people expected a season in the first place, the players are included in that boat, if he's out of shape so be it.

Lol jesus Christ what are you rambling about I'm glad he took the 5 too. Damn. No one said he didn't help us in the cup final. All I said is that he only fought to stand up to brown and here you go back tracking to the Cup run for absolutely no apparent reason.
 

Fishhead

Registered User
Jul 15, 2003
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I expected a slow start out of Richards, and I expected a slow start out of Brown. The style those guys play is destructive on their bodies. These are guys that aren't out there against creampuffs, their lines draw the oppositions best - usually big, strong guys.

There is a reason Brown took so long to go play overseas. He got absolutely creamed a few times in the Phoenix series, and it's a testament to his drive and will that he made it through the finals. Richards plays the same way, and dished out and took some brutal hits.

Did anyone really honestly expect that these two would be hitting the gym in August/September? They likely weren't even healthy enough to start pushing it until December. To even consider trading Richards at this point is beyond ludicrous. Trading Richards would mean Kopitar is our scoring center, our best shutdown center, and our best penalty killing center again. We know how that worked out.
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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Lol jesus Christ what are you rambling about I'm glad he took the 5 too. Damn. No one said he didn't help us in the cup final. All I said is that he only fought to stand up to brown and here you go back tracking to the Cup run for absolutely no apparent reason.

You responded yes to this question

I hope he can play center. You really want Stoll or Carter there over Richards?

You get the responses that your comments merit, so when you say you would rather have Stoll there than Richards and then start calling other people's comments irrelevant, expect long comments in return. Whereas Herby raised a pretty good point about his pay, and over the long term I think I agree with it (but we can't do anything about that now), so there was no response from me on that front.
 

KingKopitar11*

Guest
For Carter and what the hell is your point? And if we do trade him hypothetically we are most likely getting a center. What am I even wrong about all you showed was a statement. Wtf are you going on about
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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For Carter and what the hell is your point? And if we do trade him hypothetically we are most likely getting a center. What am I even wrong about all you showed was a statement. Wtf are you going on about

You started things down this road, not me, and you've been criticizing Richards ever since he got here, so look in the mirror.

My points are

A.) We aren't going to trade him.

B.) We've gotta live with the team we've got.

C.) Long season ahead, performances in the early games are just that, performances in early games. It's best to assess each player and not jump to conclusions after more than a handful of games.

D.) If he's as bad as you think and his level of pay is not commensurate for his services, what makes you believe we'll get jack for him?

And lastly, who cares why he fought Doan, he got him off the ice. It was a good tradeoff. Period, end of story.
 
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KingKopitar11*

Guest
You started things down this road, not me.

My points are

A.) We aren't going to trade him.

B.) We've gotta live with the team we've got.

C.) Long season ahead, performances in the early games are just that, performances in early games. It's best to assess each player and not jump to conclusions after more than a handful of games.

D.) If he's as bad as you think and his level of pay is not commensurate for his services, what makes you believe we'll get jack for him?

And lastly, who cares why he fought Doan, he got him off the ice. It was a good tradeoff. Period, end of story.

First off I like to congratulate on the world's most delayed response to another argument which has passed, maybe ms woof is your friend, don't know don't care.
Before you got all on me calling me wrong for an absolutely different argument is pretty pathetic.

Also
A. You don't know that. Maybe they will maybe they won't, unless you are Dean, but obviously you aren't from your demeanor.
B. Not unless there's room for improvement.
C. Short season and inconsistency, lack of training maybe maybe not. Don't want thst
D. Any team really, sell him while his value his high. The same reason we got Gagne, resume is great. It won't be hard to sell him

I don't care why he fought Doan I'm just saying it wasnt likely to get him off the ice.
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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You haven't had a single good thing to say about him since he got here, that's the real issue. So as soon as you had the chance to jump on anything related to him you did.

Well sorry, nobody's trading a second line center for another second line center. And considering you don't think he's any good I can't understand why you think other GM's would think he's worth trading for. Trading a 50 point center making 5.8 million is pretty unlikely so the dream will have to wait another day.
 

KingKopitar11*

Guest
You haven't had a single good thing to say about him since he got here, that's the real issue. So as soon as you had the chance to jump on anything related to him you did.

Well sorry, nobody's trading a second line center for another second line center. And considering you don't think he's any good I can't understand why you think other GM's would think he's worth trading for. Trading a 50 point center making 5.8 million is pretty unlikely so the dream will have to wait another day.

My username has Kopitars name on it. Do I ever talk about how good is he? Nope. There's no reason he plays like a champ consistently and is a wonderful player, I'm not gonna come on here and talk about how good our players are cause we all know that, but when they suck I will point it out, I like Richards surprisingly I was happy when we got him, but when he played like crap for too long it sorta pissed me off and now the way he's playing is really a piss poor excuse for an athlete. Instead of assuming, why don't you ask, if you have the nerve to attack me and question my thinking why don't you ask. It's not hard. It's simple you really don't understand, trading has many intricacies, a 2nd line center that has skill but the GM wants someone with balls and grit so they can trade and hell if we can't we can get rid of Richardson or Bernier while we are at it and get an all star. Value for value. I like Richards and I bought into the hype I saw how he was nasty to Bernier in the philly game ar while ago, so yes I liked him, but then you can say what you want be he is overrated, he had tremendous heart and all but for a team lacking SKILLED wingers and centers he is pretty useless. Imagine having an amazing play maker with skills or a sniper 2 of which he isn't, someone flashy, our PP would be more alive. Richards plays with his heart out and that's most effective but he looks worn out. If a player who relies on grit and full efforts to be helpful just becomes lazy what does that make him now? He has no skills really.
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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Sorry to nitpick, Richardson is basically worthless :)

The overall team grit is what won us the Cup and what wins Stanley Cups. It's going to make us a worse regular season team than we could be (because flash like the Canucks have allows you to crush inferior opponents regularly), but when the going gets tough, we'll win with players like Richards far more than we would a flashier player. All four teams in the Conference Finals were packed with grit, but all things considered we had just as much skill on our team as those guys did. Their skill players didn't provide nearly as much as the rest of their team once things got to that point.

So while I don't exactly prefer players like Stoll for example, when it comes to the playoffs having a team full of guys with high energy is what allowed us to play our game and squeeze the life out of teams.

I know we're 1-2-1, but I still believe we have a perfect balance of skill and grit for playoff hockey. Guys like Kopitar, Brown, Williams, Carter are very skilled and they also showed the fight we need to get through the playoffs. And Richards had 15 points in those 20 games so that's nothing to sneeze at either. Basically, I can't understand all the complaining. Just a few games ago everyone was talking about having a team that was perfectly built to win, and they proved it. Four games doesn't change that, not at all. I understand having minor gripes with certain players, but break it up? Hell no.
 
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KingKopitar11*

Guest
Just a question, I do agree with energy and I just think we can find someone better and I'm done with this though. Richardson is worth a first round pick lol.. All jokes aside we just see things differently and I understand that. Here is some positivity.. Kopitar is playing amazing he looks fully healed and most surprising he scored 2 goals in January.
 

RonSwanson*

Guest
Not being familiar with him, you wouldnt understand why his production dropped in the last couple of years. in 2010-2011, he played the entire year with torn cartilege and ligaments in his left wrist, even more painful was having Carcillo and Andreas Nodl for wingers. His coach made the decision in training camp that Grioux and Briere would center the first 2 lines and Richards the third line ( " Mike is going to center the shutdown line, offence won't be his priority") That turned out to be a mistake, which the Boston Bruins exposed badly, Briere is horrible defenisvely and the Flyers paid the price.
Last year he was having the best start of his professional career 11G, 20 points in 24 games and ranked 5th in defense among forward sin the NHL's quarter season stats. His reg. seaso ended Dec 1 with a head injury. He also didn't steady wingers and not top 6 wingers until March.

You understand that he has 65 points in 82 playoff games? And plays a complete game. That he's 3rd i nthe NHl in playoff scoring over the last3 years? That he's helped lead teams to 3 conference finals since 2008 and 2 Cup finals since 2010. He collects championsips like nobody playing the sport.
But that's not a guy that you think is worth the pay?

If Dean doesn't make that trade that you are criticizing above, the Kings don't win the Cup. PERIOD

Richards provided intensity, drive and leadership that were all key factors, but what he did that paved that path was giving Kopitar room and space. By taking the pressure off of him at center, being the tough minutes player, giving the Kings a combination of 1, 2 at center that no team could match that Cup came to LA.
Honestly, that's kind of below expectations of someone being paid what Richards is making.
 

Steve Zissou

I'll order you a red cap and a Speedo.
Feb 3, 2006
7,239
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City of Angels
Honestly, that's kind of below expectations of someone being paid what Richards is making.

You can't put a price on Lord Stanley.

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Some of you act like The Kings got knocked off by Vancouver in the first round...

We went through the same negative Nancy posts like these last year.

Some of guys are so frickin' boring, it makes me sick.
 

ScoreZeGoals

Boooorrrrriiiinnnnng
Jun 29, 2010
17,423
7,034
Jesus, I know the slow start has taken an effect on some of you, but are some of you seriously in favor of trading away a key piece of what brought this team it's only Stanley cup ever? Our two way center play is one of the best in the league and those who think a four day span by a player who is obviously rusty means we should trade him should get their heads examined. Who is going to step in and play second line center? Stoll? Please. Also, we would not get a better center to replace him in a deal for Richards. Look at a list of centers and decide which ones you think are better than Richards. Guess what? Those teams are not trading those centers! Regardless, Dean isn't trading him, so people need to stop wasting their time. If I was Gagne or Penner though, I wouldn't be feeling to comfortable come trade deadline time.
 

MsMeow

Registered User
Nov 4, 2005
16,442
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Honestly, that's kind of below expectations of someone being paid what Richards is making.

Spoken like someone who is clueless about hockey. I guess 2 way play, pp, pk, hitting, occasionally fighting isn't important.
 

Captain Mittens*

Guest
For Carter and what the hell is your point? And if we do trade him hypothetically we are most likely getting a center. What am I even wrong about all you showed was a statement. Wtf are you going on about

You are angry and could really use a hug

images
 
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xavi4life

Mr. Irreverent
Jun 30, 2007
3,627
5
Los Angeles
It's easy to dismiss something as irrelevant when you're wrong, which you are. We don't win the Cup without him, we don't have our first line capable of racking up goals without him on the second line. The alternative before him was no secondary scoring at all, which we saw ourselves before he got here. All that stuff is true.

I'm glad Richards took the 5 tonight. He didn't play great, but he did his job and that's better than the last few games. Taking everything into consideration, including his poor conditioning, I'm happy with that.

Right now we seem like a really ungrateful fanbase with all the complaining that's gone on this week, but we still won the game tonight and got a point out of the one before it, and this guy did his job. Yet everyone has been talking about players we shouldn't have kept, yada yada, all week, just FOUR games after we won a Cup. What happened to "I would trade it all for a Cup?"

I get that he wasn't great last regular season but I can't understand why everyone's getting on his back right now. I don't think very many people expected a season in the first place, the players are included in that boat, if he's out of shape so be it.

Couldn't have said it any better. Would you guys rather have Stoll or Lewis or even Loktionov playing 2nd line center???

Mike Richards is the kind of guy that has sacrificed everything (especially his body) to win. So he finally wins the ultimate prize and enjoys a long summer break, big deal. He's a pro and a winner. He's going to get it together real soon just like Dustin Brown.
 

johnjm22

Pseudo Intellectual
Aug 2, 2005
19,642
15,011
We don't win the Cup without him, we don't have our first line capable of racking up goals without him on the second line. The alternative before him was no secondary scoring at all, which we saw ourselves before he got here. All that stuff is true.

How do you know this?

The Kings were playing at a ridiculous level during the playoffs. It's hard to know what the end result would have been if you pull one player out of the equation not named Quick.

I feel comfortable saying this though; without Darryl Sutter the Kings don't win the cup. He, more than anyone, is the x factor that got the Kings over the hump. Not Mike Richards.
 

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